Skrimshander's Error

Within The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, there are numerous errors from essentially all of the characters. Although, one of the leading errors comes from Henry Skrimshander, the Wetish College Harpooners’ starting shortstop. Henry strives to be the perfect shortstop, much like his idol, Aparicio Rodriguez; however, Henry purposefully errors as a result of not feeling worthy enough of reaching perfection. Due to Henry’s uncertainty of what exactly caused his unconscious throw that launched itself into the dugout, and his continuous analyzation of the throw, over and over again every time he threw, Henry falls straight into Royce’s definition of error. Which eventually leads him to continuously err both in baseball and within his life. From the Rocyean definition of error it is clear why Henry is finally able to once

again throw without any errors, and how his lack of self confidence plays a key role in his choices after the national tournament.
Within “Error and Truth,” Royce produces a definition of, and the causation behind, error:

An error is the expression through voluntary action, of a belief. In case of an error, a being, whose ideas have a limited scope, so interprets those ideas as to bring himself into conflict with a larger life to which he himself belongs. […] He errs when he so feels, believes, acts, interprets, as to be in positive and decisive conflict with this ought. (Royce 17)

Essentially, Royce is stating that erring is a voluntary thing, you choose to error, either consciously or unconsciously. Generally, erring occurs when an individual feels, interprets, or claims about something that they do not know or fully understand and comprehend. Specifically, Royce’s comment, “conflict with a larger life to which he himself belongs” (Royce 17), shows that the main reasoning behind error is when an individual tries to understand something that is part of a bigger picture of the world compared to that individual’s known world.
According to Royce, error is something an individual chooses to do.

Henry Skrimshander unconsciously, but purposefully, makes an error that should have ruined his streak of errorless games beating out Aparicio Rodriguez’s record. Henry actually chooses to make this error because he does not feel worthy enough to be seen as something perfect in any aspect in his life, especially baseball. “He [Henry] had no hope of playing in college” (Harbach 9). As it can be seen from his pessimistic view of being able to play in college, as well as his period of depression and anorexia, Henry lacks self confidence, yet continually strives for perfection even when he feels he does not deserves it. When he played his believed to be last game, and there was seemingly nothing else to work towards, he still “jogged back out to shortstop to take fifty practice grounders, the way he always did. There was nothing left to practice for, no reason to improve, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to” (Harbach 10).

Due to the fact that Henry’s error of throwing the ball into the dugout was in fact a subconscious act, he was unsure of what exactly caused the throw to be so

off.

Why had he made such a terrible throw, so bad that Rick couldn’t even get a glove on it? Was it because of the scouts? He’d tensed up because of the scouts? No, that made no sense. […] Was it because he didn’t want to break Aparicio’s record, be the one to wipe his name from the record book, because Aparicio was Aparicio but he was just Henry? Maybe. (Harbach 100)

As a result of Henry continuing to guess and interpret about why he made such an extreme mistake, he does exactly what Royce says causes the continuation of error: “He errs when he so feels, believes acts, interprets, as to be in positive and decisive conflict with this ought” (Royce 17). From Henry’s endless analysis of what exactly caused the error that broke Owen’s zygomatic arch, Henry puts himself into more errors: missing even more shots and overthinking nearly every throw. Eventually, from this over analysis of his shortstop position, Henry becomes such a terrible player that his team members do not even want him to play: “We talked it over at practice today, and we think that Henry should sit out tomorrow” (Harbach 298). Once Henry quits the team, and “his mind finally quiets” (Harbach 323), the Harpooners go on a multiple game winning streak and make it to the national tournament, reinforcing Henry’s thought of not being ‘worthy’ enough to be on a college baseball team or beyond to the major and minor leagues.
From understanding Royce’s definition of error, it is easy to see how and why Henry’s mistakes begin to happen. Unlike the popular belief of the other characters, it is not simply Henry’s overthinking, but rather Henry’s questioning of the unknown and lack of self confidence that causes his errors in baseball. Henry is firstly, not used to making errors as a shortstop, therefore erring is not within his field of understanding. Secondly, “He [Henry] had his whole life ahead of him; it wasn’t a comforting thought” (Harbach 347), with Henry’s lack of self confidence from his team obviously not needing him to make it to the national championships, he purposefully made errors in order to justify his views of himself as unworthy.
But who cares? What is the point of understanding how the Roycean definition of error affects how Henry acts? It explains why after Henry turns down playing for the St. Louis Cardinals (his dream team and his idea of the highest level of perfection in baseball) he is able to finally again do a perfect throw: “His fingers found the seams. He sound his hips and whipped his arm, feeling nothing, less than nothing, no sense of foreboding or anticipation, no liveliness, no weight, no itch or sentience in his fingertips, no fear, no hope” (Harbach 512). By turning down being in the majors and going back to play for his college team, and essentially giving up his shortstop position to Izzy, Henry is accepting the fact that he cannot achieve the perfection of playing for a major league team because he does not want to move on with his life. From this, he is able to put aside his initial baseball error by ending his thinking all together which allows him to be able to once again throw a perfect return. “All he’d ever wanted was for nothing to ever change. […] It sounded crazy when you said it like that, but that was what baseball had promised him, what Wetish College had promised him […] The dream of every day the same” (Harbach 345). In making this comment, as well as not wanting to move on, Henry is forcing himself to stay in the same erring position he is in now, solely because of his lack of self confidence and pessimistic view of himself; ending part, but not all of his Roycean errors.